It often occurs that a full dust container or bag in a vacuum cleaner is removed and not replaced with a new empty bag. If this situation happens, and the vacuum cleaner is used without a bag, no dust separation will take place within the vacuum cleaner, but instead the air-borne dust is blown out of the vacuum cleaner and over the room being cleaned. Furthermore, some of the dust and dirt would find its way into the fan motor causing an interruption in operation. There are known constructions and arrangements which utilize different mechanical devices for sensing the existence or non-existence of a dust container in a vacuum cleaner housing, however, these devices are expensive to fabricate and require a considerable amount of space in the vacuum cleaner housing.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple arrangement in a vacuum cleaner which prevents the use of the vacuum cleaner without a dust container in the proper place.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a combination vacuum cleaner closure means and a dust container in which the latter has a relatively stiff attachment plate that has a portion functioning as a gripping surface for the closure means.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pivotable latching device on one part of a two-part vacuum cleaner housing, the latching means being adapted to engage the gripping surface of the attachment plate when the dust container is inserted in the other part of the vacuum cleaner housing.